Automatic operator indicator for busy lines at central offices



pvi E8, i933. W. 5. BLANTQN ENTRAL OFFNE AUTOMATIC OPERATOR INDIGATGR FOR BUSY LINES Q Filed Sept. 50, 1931 WJ'. ELNTQN AUTOMATIC OPEBTGR INCATOB; FOR BUS-Y LINES AT CE wi Hrw- @f Filed Sp. 30, 1933.

NTRAL oEFcEs 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 175, office.

Patented .Apu 18, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VJILLIAM B. BLANTON, OF MERRICK, NEW YORK, AvSSIG-NOR T THE WESTERN UNION .Y

TELEGRAPE 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., A. VC()RPORATION 0F NEW YORK AUTOMATIC OPERATOR INDICATOR FOR BUSY LIVNESr AT CENTRAL OFFICES Application filed September 30, 1931. YSerial N'o. 566,096.

This invention relates to the handling of traine at a central oiice or concentration unit Where a large number or" subscribers lines are terminated before a small number of center from which they are taken to the "10: operators by delivery girls or messengers.

At the distributing center there. is located a 'rack for the reception of the messages, a compartment of the rack being designated for each branch oce connected to the central In order that the messages may be transmitted With the least delay, it is desirable to have them taken from the distributing center directly to the operator Who is at that moment Working the line connected to "5320 the branch station towhich the message iS directed. .c

The object of the present invention is to -provide means for automatically indicating at the distributing center the operator Who is 92.5 Working the line connected to any desired branch oiice so that the message or messages intended for that oiiice may be taken directly to that operator by the messenger.

As vone means for accomplishing this purpose I provide a rack at thedistributing center having a compartment for each branch circuit terminating at the central ohce or concentrator unit. Under each of these compartments is located'an indicator-positioned behind a Window in the frame of the rack.

"The indicator is provided With numerals on its face which register combinations corresponding tothe diiierent locations of the operators. Thus When operator 24 plugs in A* on a line circuit, the units and tens .elements of the corresponding indicator yWould register the number 24 at its Window, thereby indicating to the delivery girls that operator No. 24 was then Working thev line with Which the compartment over the Window isvassociated,

The invention Will be understood from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings in which# Figures la and lb represent apparatus and circuits employed in one embodiment of my l invention.y Figure 2`is a detail vieW of the code Wheel in operating position.

Y Figure 3 is a front elevation of an indicator dial plate.

VI'have illustrated one concentrator circuit Y at the central oice and only one branch office but it Will bev understood that each .concentrator maybe provided With a plurality of circuits connected to a plurality of branch o'iiices. The equipment at each branch station comprises a simplex printer SP, a key switch K, and a signal relay G. rlhe branch station is connected by a line L to the central station. lVith the key K in the position illustrated, the line L is grounded through the signalv relay G and in the other position of y the key, the relay G is disconnected, the line is grounded through the simplex printer and the energizing circuit of the printer operating motor M is completed.

At the central station, the line L is connected through conductor 30, contact 3l,

spring conta-ct arm 32, conductor 33, Winding of relay A to the signaling generator 4or battery SB. The terminal plugs for each line are'connected in multiple and are located at the respective operators7 positions or turrets. When the line is idle these plugs are connected through line L1, coil5 of relay C, conductor 35, armature and back contact of relay 78, conductor 36, spring contact arm 37, contact 38, conductor 39 to the plus pole of generator 40.

Assume that operator 22 desires to vansvver circuit above traced, tip contact of jack J,

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-interrupter conductor 42, inner right hand armature and back contact of relay E, conductor 43, coil 14 of relay D, vacuum tube VT to ground. The plate current drawn by the vacuum tube VT is not of suicient valu-e to operate relay C; however, this current is ol sutlicicnt value to cause the operation of relay D which closes a circuit from generator 46 through the coil of relay E, conductor 47, coil of relay F, armature, front contact and coil 15 of relay D, conductor 43, intermediate and low-er contacts orn jacli J to ground. This circuit locks up relays D, E and F.

peration of relay F closes a circuit from generator 50 through the printer motor M of simplex printer SP2. Operation of relay E closes a circuit through its left hand armature and front contact over conductor 52, contacts l and c ot code wheel 54, conf ductor 56, relay 57 of generator 60. The inner right hand armature of relay E in moving from its back contact opens the circuit through the vacuum tube VT and closes a circuit from the tip contact of the jack J through conductor 61, contactsl o and a of `he code wheel to generator 62. Thus aV circuit Ais- Vestablished from the negative polarity battery 62 through winding 5 of relay C-to positive polarity battery 40, lhereby opcrating relay C. The operation of the outer right hand armature of relay E opened the circuit through the busy test lamp 17 which was momentarily closed when the operator connected her jacl: J 'to the plug. I he oper- "ation, or" the relay 57 causes the members of the clutch 65 to engage so that the continuously running motor 66 begins to rotate the The operation of relay C when the operator connected her jack to the plug 11, closed av locking circuit from generator 70 through coil7V and armature of relay C, conductor 71, coil 8 of relay B, conductor 72, brush a and disk of interrupter 73 to ground. Operation 'of relay B closed a locking circuit for itself from generator 19 through coil 9 and left hand armature of the relay, conductor 74, brush L and disk of in-.'"errupter 73 to ground. These two locking circuits and the 73 are for the purpose of maintaining relay B continuously in the oper-ated position while the yconcentrator operator has h'er jack J connected to the line plug. Assume that interrupter 73 takes 1li/1|A second to vmake a complete revolution and that the time required to rotate the notch on the interrupter from conta-ct a to contact b in a clockwise 4direction takes one second. `Now when the locking circuit through winding 8 of relay B and winding 7 of relay C is open due lto the notch or" the interrupter passing under contact a, rela-y C will be deenergized if at that moment no current is passing through winding 5. Relay B, however, will remain energized due to the looking circuit through its winding 9. Il, before the notch on interrupter 7 3 passes under Contact b, a lin-e signal passes through Winding 5 of relay C, the locking circuit connected to contact a of the interrupter will be restored. Therefore, relay B will continue in the energized position when the locking circuit connected to interrupter contact b is open. When the operator disconnects her jack J from the line plug, all battery is removed 75 fromthis line and relay B will be released when interrupter 73 opens the lockingrcircuit connected to its contact u and the locking circuit connected to its contact circuit in the sequence named. Thus, it will be seen that relay B is maintained continuously operated as long as relay C receives a current impulse at least once every second through its winding The operation of the armature o of relay B disconnects relay A and signaling generator SB from the line and a circuit is established from this signalingvbattery through relay A and the busy lamp to ground. The operation of armature c opens the short circuit whichis established around the winding of relay A when this relay responds to a momentary open circuit at the branch oliice in order toreceive an incoming call.

The armature Z of relay B opens the circuit 95 from the generator 40 to the terminal plug 1 and closes a circuit from ground through the coil of relay 75, conductor 76, armature d, spring contact arm 37, conductor 36, armature and bach contact of relay 78, coil 5 of relay C and line L1 to the plug. Current, therefore, flows over this circuit Jr`ro`m the generator 62 and operates relay 75.

The operation or relay 75 closes a circuit from generator 8O through armature and fil-05 front Contact of relay 75 and coil of relay 81 to ground, causing relay V81 to operate.y Now the rotation of code wheel 54 will cause a series of breaks or openings in this circuit by the opening of the springs a and b. Relay f 110 75 will vfollow these openings, permitting its armature to fall back each time to its deenergized position, thus completing a circuit from generator' 80, through armature and back contact of relay 75, armatureand frontcontact of slow-to-release relay 8l, conductor 82, springs c and o of switch 83, conductor 84,

coil of relay 85 and coil of stepping magnet 86 to ground. Magnet 86 will be energized each time the code wheel opens the circuit, thus actuating the ratchet 87 and swinging the arm 89 to step the indicator segment 90 upwardly so that the figures on its face will appear successively in front of the window at the message routing rack.

I have shown the indicator 'as comprising a.

units segment 90 and a tens segment 91 which would be sufficient for ninety-'nine operators. It is obvious that by adding a third indicator with the corresponding lcircuit equipment, tile 2130 Vindicator would provide 'for nine hundred `ninety-nine operators.

- Relays 81 and 85 are indicated as slow-toreleaserelays and because of this feature, they will remain operated during the series of Vbreaks or open circuit impulses. When the stepping magnet 86 operates theindicator 90 to its first step ory position the right hand -end of the arm 89 releases the off-normal spring of the switch 83, permitting vthem to move downward into engagement with the other springs, thus establishing another `circuit from the front contact of lrelay 81 through the winding of relay 85. This circuit passes'from the front contact of relay 81, through springs c and a of switch 83, armature, front contact and winding of relay 85 and stepping magnet 86 to ground. 'The engagement of the other springs el and e prepares a circuit to relay 78 to connect the main line L to the operators set and the engagement of springs f and g prepa-res a circuit forrestoring the indicator to starting position. l

VAt the completion of the first series of circuit openings from the code wheel 54, it will be noted that the circuit is closed for along 'period before the second series of circuit Vopenings occurs for stepping up the tens indicator. During this long closed circuit period, relay will be held in an energized position, thus holdingrelay 81 also in energized position. Hencethe circuit through relay'85 and stepping magnet 86 will be I open for this length of time at the backcourelay 85. Tracing this circuit from the front contactof relay 81, it passesover conductor 82, olf-normal springs c and a of switch 83,

armature and back contact of'relay 85 and winding of stepping magnet 93 to ground.

The continued movement of the code wheel 54 now produces .the ysecond series of open circuit conditions'which will be followed by the relay 75. The circuit through the stepping magnet- 93 will be closed each time the armature of relay 75 moves to its back contact, thereby stepping the ratchet 94 and swinging the indicator 91 upwardly one step each time relay 7 5 lis deenergized. During this series of opencircuit conditions, slowto-release relay 81 will remain in the operated condition. The last open circuit conditions of the .tens seriesis a long one so that the armature of relay 75 will rest von its back con- -tact a sufficient length of time to permit the relay 81 to deenergize. When this occurs, a

Ycircuit is closed from-generator through .the armature and back contact of relay 75, Yarmature and back contact of relay 81, conductor 96, off-normal springs l and cof Ycontact of relay B, .through conductor 101, yof-normalsprings c and d of Iswitch 98, windswitch 83, and off'normal springs@ yand-bof switch 98 Vin parallel andthence through con ductor99 and the winding of relay 78A to ground, therebyA connecting the.- line Lb through the armature andv 4front contact of70 Vrelay 78 tothe conductor 35 and the operators cord circuit. ,l At the Sametime, the circuit to relay 75 isopened at theback contact of relay29.V The tens and .units segmentsj91 and 90 of(:75 the indicator now-.show the figure 22 atV the window under compartment No. l of the message routing rack which indicates to the messenger girlk thatoperator 22 isworking on Y this line so that anymessages destined to -thato Ybranch-ofce may be taken directly tothis operator.. 2 f Y Code wheel54 will continue to rotate until it reaches the position shown in Fig. 2. At this point, Vthe spring e riding on the perime-C'Blv ter of the smaller c ode wheel,-fallsintoa vdepression thereinthereby opening the contacts d and e and breaking the circuit of the clutch magnet 57, thus disengagingthe clutcha members. The spring Z) which; rides on the .larger code wheel, falls into thefdeep depres- 4sion,thus closing the contacts Yb and' cy and connecting the line to the simplex printer SP2. The circuit is now in readiness for the exchange of business from the .central oiice to the'branch ofiice.- At the completion of the .exchange 'of business with thebranchrotlice rconn'ected toiline L, operator .22 removes vher vjack J from the line plug 1. Relay Eis thus i deenergized and completes a circuit through its left hand armature and back contact from ,groundthroughconductor 100,contacts f at the springs e and f, thus placing vthe c ode sending, mechanism .inthe Vprinter cord. circuit in readiness to function when the operator connects her acl: vto the plug Aofanotherv me. 1 f .i

When operator 22 removed her jack J from the line yplug 1, all line battery was disconnected from this line and consequently relay B will bedeenergized as soon as the contact springs a and b of theconstantly rotating vinterrupter 73 `fall into the notch in the peripheryof the disc in the order named. As the armatures of the relay B move to theirback contacts, the indicators 90 and 9 1 are, restored to their initial position in-the following manner: Arrelease circuit is established from ground through armature eV and Aback ing of release magnet 102, and generator 103 to ground; and also. from said, spring c through conductor 104, off-normal springs f and g of switchv83,-winding of release mag-A net 105 and generator l106 jto ground. :The 130 energizing of these-two release magnets disengages the locking. pavvlszfrom the respectiveratchet Wheels 87 and 94, thus allowing the indicatorsto be restored to starting position by their biasing springs. It Will. be noted that When the indicators move to their initial position, the arms 88 and 89 engage the offnormal: springs and lift them to their normal position indicated in the drawings.

It will be'noted that when one operator has her jack J connected to a line, there Will be negative battery connected to this line. rPherefore, if a second operator attaches her ,jack J to thissame line, this negative battery Will be applied to the plate of the vacuum tube in the second operators cord circuit. No plate current Will flovv and consequently relay D in the second operators cord circuit Will not be energized. Consequently, relays E and F and magnet 57 receive no current and therefore the code Wheel 54 does not rotate. Thus it vvillbe seen that it is lnecessary for an operator to plug up tofan idle line in order to causethe code signaldevice in her cord circuit to function.

For the purpose of illustrating my invention, I1 have shown it as applied to the concentrator circuit for simplexprinters disclosed in U. S'. Patent 1,804,327 dated May 5, 1931 but itshould be understood that my invention can be applied to other concentration circuits. It will also be obvious to engineers thatvarious changes and modifications in the circuit arrangement may be made Without in any manner departing from my invention.

Il claim:

1. In an intercommunication system embodying a centraly oiiice and a plurality of branch oitices, a line from eachbranch ofce terminating at said central oice, multipled jacksl or plugs for each line located at a number of turrets or` operators positions, a message routing or distributing center, indicating devices at said ycenter corresponding to each line, and'means operating automatically in response to the seizure of a line to cause the corresponding indicatorY to display a signal designating the particular operator seizing the line.

2. In anA intercommunication system embodying a central office and a plurality of branch ofices having lines terminating` at the central office, multipled jacks or plugs for each line loc-ated at a number of-turrets or operators positions, a message distributing center at the central oiiice, an indicator at said center for each line, a code signaling device operatively connected to each operators cordfcircuit and means automatically actuatedvvhen an operator connects' a cord circuit to'one of said'jacls or plugs Jfor causing said signaling device to transmit a code signal to the corresponding line indicator designating the particular operator making connection to this line.

3. In an intercommunication.system'eInbodying a central oflice and a. pluralityfof branch otlices having lines terminatim'g.Y at the central oilice, multipled jacks or plugs for each line located at a number of .turrets`` or operators positions, a message Vdistributing center at the central ofce, an indicator at said `center for each line,va receiving' device at each operators position, acode signaling and switching mechanism connected to' each operators cord circuit, and means automatically actuated vvhen an operator connects her cord circuit to one of said jacks or plugs to cause said mechanism to first transmit a code signal to the corresponding line ioperators positions, a message routing center at vthe central oi'iice provided With operator indicators :tor each operators position, arcode signaling mechanism connected: to each operators cord circuit, means automatically ac tuated vvhen an operator connects her cord circuit to a jack or plug to cause said mechanism to transmit a code signal designating said calling operator, and switching mechanism associated With each indicator responsive to the code signal operatingto first ac- "Y tuate the indicator and then connect the branch oiiice line to the operatorsacord circuit.v y

6. In an intercommunication system embranch oiiices having lines terminating at the central office, multipled jacks or plugs for each line located at a number of'turrets or operators positions, a message routing center at the central oiiice provided With operator indicators foreach operatcrs position, a

simplex printer at each operators position, f

a code signaling and switching mechanism connected to each 'operators cordv circuit, means automatically actuated when an operator connects her cord -circuit to a jack-or plug tocause said-mechanism to iirst transmit a code signal designating said calling operator and thenuconnect the simplex printer to thecord circuit, `and switching vmechanism associated with each indicator responsive to the code signal operating to first-- act-uate the indicator and then connect the branch oiii'ce line to the operators cord-circuit.

bodying a central'oiice and a plurality oflm 7 In an inter-communicating lsystem embodying a central oiice and a plurality of branch oiices, a line` from each branch oiiiee terminating in a concentration unit having a number of operators positions, said concentration unit having circuit arrangements which permit any one of the lines fto be Worked from any one of the operators positions, and means at a message routing eenter operating in response to the seizure of a line for automatically indicating the particular operator Workingr each busy line.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature.

WILLIAM B. BLANTON. 

